I agree that in the long run, it's cheaper to buy than rent. I was forced to give up the home I was buying in 1984 because of bankruptcy. I was relegated to renting. While gainfully employed I was able to pay rent reasonably easily. However, having to do so left me with meager disposable income. My savings account was a joke with only a few hundred dollars in it.

As I approached retirement, which I didn't plan well, I took a look at what my retirement budget would look like. Forecasting the raising rental rates. I determined that two years after I retired, I wouldn't be able to afford rent. I hadn't been apposed to buying, it's just with so little disposable income, it was impossible to raise a down payment.

I had determined that I needed to get the most out of Social Security as I could. At the time I started looking at that idea, the maximum draw could be achieve by waiting until age 72 to begin drawing it. However, that was lowered so that no more benefit could be derived by waiting beyond age 70. Having already determined that I'd work until age 72, I began drawing Social Security at 70. That lucky happenstance left me with about $2,000 to spare each month. I simply put it in my savings account. When the date of my retirement approached, I found I had enough to purchase a newer car, not new, but at least in the same century and still come up with a modest down payment. The trick was to find a home whose payments would fit my retirement budget. About a year before the date, I began looking for such a home. In order to find that kind of home I had to look at rural communities. I found a nice double wide manufactured home less than an hours drive from my church and family that fit the bill.

Having stabilized my housing cost, I'm able to live retired.